The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: We stood, when lo! that old man venerable
Exclaiming, "How is this, ye tardy spirits?
What negligence detains you loit'ring here?
Run to the mountain to cast off those scales,
That from your eyes the sight of God conceal."
As a wild flock of pigeons, to their food
Collected, blade or tares, without their pride
Accustom'd, and in still and quiet sort,
If aught alarm them, suddenly desert
Their meal, assail'd by more important care;
So I that new-come troop beheld, the song
 The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |